India would have attacked but for Pakistani nukes: Shahbaz Sharif

Islamabad, Dec 25 (IANS) India would have launched a war in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks but for the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif asserted Thursday. Sharif, who is also the brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, told a Christmas event in Lahore: “The defence of Pakistan is undefeated and no one can look at the country with evil intentions.”

The News website quoted him as saying that if Pakistan were not a nuclear power, India would have attacked it in the wake of the Mumbai savagery for which New Delhi has blamed Pakistani terrorists.

He also described as “commendable” the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif for making Pakistan a nuclear power.

At the same time, Sharif added that if India provided “solid evidence” of Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai carnage, Islamabad would be “ready to extend its fullest cooperation”.

Speaking to Online news agency, former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt. Gen. (retd) Hamid Gul charged that India had been “dreaming of establishing its hegemony over Pakistan” for 61 years and wants to mount “impossible and unacceptable pressure” on his country post Mumbai.

It would not be easy for India to confront a country like Pakistan, Gul maintained.

“We gave in to the US after 9/11. India also wants to mount pressure like this which is not possible. If we accept India’s supremacy, it would be a negation of two nation theory,” Gul contended.

On Wednesday, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Galani stepped up the ante against India, saying Pakistan’s armed forces were ready to defend any aggression.

Zardari, addressing a students gathering in his home province Sindh, said: “We will defend the country till the last drop of our blood.”

The president vowed never to compromise on the independence and sovereignty of Pakistan and maintained that the armed forces were ready to defend the country.

Gilani told reporters in Islamabad that there were no chance of a war with India. But he quickly added: “Pakistan is ready to face any adventure”.